Gary Bettman might finally have a winner on his hands. When the league’s board of governors meet Nov. 28-29 in Pebble Beach, Calif., it’s expected they’ll approve a change to the schedule which will allow every team to face each other at least once per season. After failing twice to get the schedule changed, it’s believed Bettman has finally come up with a format the governors will support. Here’s what the new format could look like: Teams will play six games against divisional foes, down from eight; it’s expected clubs will face the other teams in their conference four times (status quo); the remaining 18 games on the schedule would be played against the opposing conference.

...That said, there is word few people on this team is real happy with how things are going and there has been word of a possible revolt. I’m not kidding about this.

My take: If JM is shopping Olli, not good. He’s the captain and face of this franchise—for better or worse. If this is true, JM needs to come out and say so. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it really, but I will in the near future. Probably tonight. Word of Olli being shopped has leaked to the players and it is not, NOT, sitting well in the room.

Hill is ready to play and finally eligible to do so. Perhaps that will come today against the Colorado Avalanche because he’s formally served the final 19 games of his 20-game suspension for becoming the first NHL player to test positive for steroids.

“I’m as ready as I can be,” said Hill, a Duluth native who denies he used steroids last season while playing for the Islanders. “Obviously there are times when I’m a bit rusty, and maybe my timing won’t be where it should be, but I think we’ve done everything we can as far as preparing, and the rest of the stuff’s going to come the more I play.”

Minnesota Wild center Mikko Koivu has a cracked left fibula, non-displaced, and will miss about a week of action, a team spokesperson said Saturday night.

Koivu was injured when he was slashed by Vancouver’s Mattias Ohlund late in the the third period of the Wild’s 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ohlund was given a five-minute major. There was no word Saturday night on any possible discipline being handed out to Ohlund by the NHL.

If Mattias Ohlund is suspended, it would happen before tomorrow because Vancouver has a game.

It’ll be an interesting decision. After seeing the replay again more closely well after game, one wonders if league disciplinarian Colin Campbell will take into account Ohlund was reacting to Koivu’s attempted elbow.

I would think he would want to suspend him to perhaps keep Wednesdays rematch more civil and to also keep Ohlund safe.

Also, ill tell you what, after looking at Marian Gaborik’s elbow on Ryan Kesler again, he’s lucky he didn’t get a major. It was a leap at Kesler’s head.

I started reading blogs a couple of years ago and it’s gotten to the point that I can’t remember the last day that I made it through without tasting at least one blog.
My peers look at bloggers as non-journalists … and believe it or not, that’s a slam. They point out that very few bloggers have primary information, instead being so removed from the dressing room that they act as collection houses of information first posted by beat reporters. Commentary thus becomes the only unique part of the blog. My beat-writer peers fear that their blogs will have fewer hits (yes, we speak the language) because that information can be found on other sites.

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